Thanks for bringing this up! Tell me about it.
I don't like ranting(but I'm about to...lol)
If I see one more person who doesn't know what the word
Pan-Africanist means, let alone who Garvey
is or what he
did, but they are wearing the Red, Black, and Green,... or one more person sporting the Red Green and Gold that isn't even familiar with Rastafarianism outside of Bob Marley(and all they think he advocated was smoking...Beyonce was wearing it for God's sake!!)... or one more person wearing a Che Guevera T-Shirt when they don't know of or support a single thing he stood or faught for(JZ?...COme on now!)...I'm going to scream!!!
Unfortunately like everything else Revolutionary symbols and figures have been co-opted and commercialized. I personally think this was done on purpose by the corporate god's, not only so they could make a buck...but so they can diffuse interest of the youth in these symbols and figures of social change...making them into twisted Pop icons....a label of sorts...turning it into fashion...and then the youth never get past the surface to find out the depths of these symbols. The symbolic power gets nuetralized via consummerism and comercialization.
The so-called neo-soul...
I wear my hair natural because it's the "style" movement erks me(to say the least). I'm young still or at least I like to think so
(I'm in my twenties) so I always get the
"you must be earthy spiritual"..."I like your style" comments. I of course must explain...
I'm a Pan-Africanist...and a Traditional spiritual practitioner...this is not a fashion statement!(which usually scares people off...lol) So many symbols of revolution and liberation are dissrespected...and it's happened before. I remember the last era of pro-Blackness in the U.S.(for lack of a better term)...The
Africa medallion, Red Black and Green, "Happy to be Nappy" erra I grew up in, and never quite grew out of...was the same thing. I realized this only later on of course. I thought
everybody was becoming conscious...I didn't realize it was fashion for most. I blame that on my age at the time...Luckily a few people like me never stopped "Fighting the Power" so hopefully a few of the new generation with stick with it and develop into activists...I know several who have. It's too bad more than likely it won't be the masses.